‘Soon,’ she promised.

They smiled at one another and the camera clicked. The picture appeared in the local paper the next day. Neither of them noticed it being taken.

At last it was all over. The guests departed, and Lilian accompanied her parents up to their room.

‘How is Pippa coping?’ Dee wanted to know. ‘I worried about her this evening. A wedding anniversary. How that must have hurt her! If her wedding had gone ahead, it would have been her own first anniversary soon.’

‘I know, but you’d never guess it, she seems so bright,’ Lilian sighed. ‘Oh, I could kill that man for what he did to her.’

Pippa’s entry silenced the topic. Together, they helped the old people to bed, kissed them goodnight and retreated to the door.

‘You’re not too tired after all the goings-on?’ Pippa asked.

‘Tired?’ Mark echoed. ‘We’re only just starting. We’re going to get revved up, then swing from the chandeliers and indulge in some mad lust. You youngsters! You don’t know how to enjoy life. Ow! No need to beat me up.’

Dee, who’d delivered the lightest tap on his shoulder, chuckled. ‘Behave yourself!’ she commanded.

‘You see how she treats me,’ Mark sighed. ‘I expect you bully your menfolk too, and they wonder where you get it from. They should see what I put up with. Ow!’

As the two old people collapsed with laughter, Lilian drew her daughter away.

‘Let’s leave them to it. Honestly, they’re like a couple of kids.’

‘Perhaps that’s their secret,’ Pippa said.

‘Yes,’ Lilian said thoughtfully. ‘They do seem to have a secret, don’t they?’

They went downstairs to get on with the clearing up.

In the darkness, Mark and Dee listened to the fading footsteps.

‘We’re very lucky,’ she mused, ‘that our family takes such care of us.’

‘True, but I hope they don’t come back,’ he admitted. ‘Right now, I want to be alone with you. What are you giggling for?’